As the Internet has become highly integrated into everyday life, Internet websites have emerged as an attractive new medium for providing various entertainment content, such as online games. Especially, as the number of people using such content has grown, various methods were devised to provide the so-called “virtual co-presence” to users using the same contents. The “virtual co-presence” refers to the psychological state of acquiring a feeling that one is at the same place and interacting with other people located in different geographical locations and using the same content at the same time. In the area of online games, visual means such as avatars have been used to provide such a sense of “co-presence” to the users participating in the game.
Meanwhile, the Internet is used nowadays as a new medium for broadcasting various types of entertainment programs (e.g., sports or reality show programs) to Internet users. Many users log on to web sites providing such entertainment programs and view a program to their liking. Especially, when popular sports matches (e.g., U.S. Super Bowl or FIFA Word Cup) are broadcasted live over the Internet, thousands of users may watch the same game through the same website broadcasting the match. These viewers all share the excitement of the live broadcast simultaneously and may express their impression of the game through bulletin postings or other means after the game has ended. However, there are no conventional means to share their viewing experience in real-time with other viewers watching the game through the same website. Thus, there is a need for a method and apparatus for providing “virtual co-presence” to the viewers watching a broadcast program through a communication network by relaying their reactions to the broadcast program in real-time.